Varsity tennis players react to forest fire

The varsity tennis teams were just finishing practice Thursday evening when one athlete saw a steadily growing fire to the left of the varsity courts with two adult men standing near it.

Jacob Dunbar, a sophomore tennis player, saw the two men, who he believed were too old to be students, attempt to put the flames out by kicking dry leaves on them.

Immediately, Dunbar called over teammate and brother, Ethan Dunbar, teammates Jonathan Quenard, and Caleb Troy, and female player Brittney Boys.

“[Boys] made the call to 911, while Ethan and I came here and used the leftover water in our coolers for practice on the fire,” Jacob said.

The men kicking the leaves are unknown, but told the group that they had been playing ultimate Frisbee in the woods and just saw the fire, the Dunbar brothers said.

“I didn’t see any cigarette on the ground or the cause of the fire,” Jacob Dunbar said.

The windy conditions of the day could’ve increased the fire’s strength and spread, the Dunbar brothers said.

By the time the fire department and Richmond Police arrived at the scene, the tennis players’ water coolers had quenched most of the flames to a mere smolder, they said.

Contact advertising assistant Holly Speck at holly.speck@richmond.edu